Related papers: Beyond the Limits of Conventional Stark Decelerati…
We report on the production of a pulsed molecular beam of metastable NH ($a ^1\Delta$) radicals and present first results on the Stark deceleration of the NH ($a ^1\Delta, J=2, M\Omega=-4$) radicals from 550 m/s to 330 m/s. The decelerated…
Polar molecules, in strong-field seeking states, can be transported and focused by an alternating sequence of electric field gradients that focus in one transverse direction while defocusing in the other. We show, by calculation and…
Strong optical forces with minimal spontaneous emission are desired for molecular deceleration and atom interferometry applications. We report experimental benchmarking of such a stimulated optical force driven by ultrafast laser pulses. We…
Sampling the Boltzmann distribution using forces that violate detailed balance can be faster than with the equilibrium evolution, but the acceleration depends on the nature of the nonequilibrium drive and the physical situation. Here, we…
We have focused and decelerated benzonitrile (C$_7$H$_5$N) molecules from a molecular beam, using an array of time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields in alternating gradient configuration. Benzonitrile is prototypical for large…
We demonstrate the long-term ($<$ 1 minute) trapping of Stark-decelerated OH radicals in their $X~^{2}\Pi _{3/2}~(\nu = 0,~J = 3/2,~M_{J} = 3/2,~f)$ state in a permanent magnetic trap. The trap environment was cryogenically cooled to a…
Rapid progress in cooling and trapping of molecules has enabled first experiments on high resolution spectroscopy of trapped diatomic molecules, promising unprecedented precision. Extending this work to polyatomic molecules provides unique…
All light has structure, but only recently it has become possible to construct highly controllable and precise potentials so that most laboratories can harness light for their specific applications. In this chapter, we review the emerging…
Molecular collisions can be studied at very low relative kinetic energies, in the milliKelvin range, by merging codirectional beams with much higher translational energies, extending even to the kiloKelvin range, provided that the beam…
Optically trapped laser-cooled polar molecules hold promise for new science and technology in quantum information and quantum simulation. Large numerical aperture optical access and long trap lifetimes are needed for many studies, but these…
Precision spectroscopic measurements in atoms and molecules play an increasingly important role in chemistry and physics, e.g., to characterize structure and dynamics at long timescales, to determine physical constants, or to search for…
Stochastic cooling of trapped atoms is considered for a laser-beam configuration with beam waists equal or smaller than the extent of the atomic cloud. It is shown, that various effects appear due to this transverse confinement, among them…
Laser-plasma accelerators offer a compact means of producing high-energy electron beams, but their performance is fundamentally limited by dephasing between the accelerated electrons and the plasma wave. To overcome this limitation, we…
A set of ballpark parameters for laser, plasma, and accelerator technologies that define for electron energies reaching as high as TeV are identified. These ballpark parameters are carved out from the fundamental scaling laws that govern…
Ultracold molecular gases are promising as an avenue to rich many-body physics, quantum chemistry, quantum information, and precision measurements. This richness, which flows from the complex internal structure of molecules, makes the…
Gradient fields can effectively suppress particle tunneling in a lattice and localize the wave function at all energy scales, a phenomenon known as Stark localization. Here, we show that Stark systems can be used as a probe for the precise…
High energy density is always a key goal for developments of energy storage or energetic materials (EMs). Except exploring novel EMs with high chemical energy, it is also desirable if the traditional EMs could be assembled at a higher…
Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons to MeV energies in ambient air using tightly focused laser configurations. In this article, we explore possible strategies to control and optimize the resulting…
Accurate detection of target molecules at low concentrations in the presence of a high concentration of undesired molecules is a major challenge for End Point (EP) assays. Non-specific binding of undesired molecules to receptors limits the…
We describe the combination of buffer-gas cooling with electrostatic velocity filtering to produce a high-flux continuous guided beam of internally cold and slow polar molecules. In a previous paper (L.D. van Buuren et al.,…